When he started his business, he expected a 95 percent payment rate, based on the experience at his own office. But just as crim
e tends to be low on a street where a police car is parked, the 95 percent rate was artificially high: Feldman’s presence had deterred theft. Not only that, but those bagel eaters knew the provider and had feelings (presumably good ones) about him. A broad swath of psychological and economic research has shown that people will pay different amounts for the same item depending on who is providing it. . . . In the real world, Feldman learned to settle for less than 95 percent. He came to consider a company “honest” if its payment rate was above 90 percent. He considered a rate between 80 and 90 percent “annoying but tolerable.”
The excerpt helps the authors arrive at their conclusion by
restating their claim about cheating.
presenting facts about the bagel business.
providing statistical evidence.
using deductive reasoning.
The start of the excerpt gives information on the background that mister Feldman had befor starting his business and how did it work, this provides a context to start understanding the problems that the bussines has when Mister Feldman discovers that the payment rate was due to the fact that the buyers were fond of the company were mister Feldman worked before initiating his bussines.
